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A trip to Fleet Feet on Friday promptly ended that whole being on the fence thing. I mean registration forms were laid out like a buffet and the bibs were stacked up in the middle of the store. Really, how could I turn my back on that? My only reservation was that I haven't been quite right since the Blue Ridge Relay having gone into that race with plantar fasciitis. Oddly enough running those 24 miles relatively fast up and down hills didn't help much. PF just sucks as anybody that has experienced it can attest to but for me it hasn't completely derailed my running. It's basically just an inflammation of the band that connects your heel to your toes and results in some very uncomfortable heel pain. The band shrinks at night and mornings are awful but generally it loosens up as the day goes on. "Just" is a bit misleading because getting rid of it is easier said than done.
I actually composed an entire blog dedicated to complaining about PF but I deleted it. You can thank me later but it was a tirade of epic proportions during a fairly debilitating period of days where I was really getting frustrated. I've never been much for stretching or rehab and (knock on wood) have avoided injuries that kept me sidelined for more than a week or so. Tired of not being able to walk in the morning I decided to get serious about it so now I'm sleeping in a brace, rolling my foot on a frozen bottle of water a few times a day, stretching, and even walking on pebbles just to loosen up the tissue. Yeah, I'm pretty sick of all that too.
But like I said, as long as I'm smart about it once it loosens up I'm alright. Since I only live a few miles from the start I decided I would take an easy jog to the start. And just to be clear, as runners we don't jog - we might run slow but we don't jog. And there is a difference even though I'm not entirely sure what it is. But take my word for it, this was a jog. Anyway, I left the house later than I wanted to because I couldn't find the pullover I wanted to wear, my dog got out of the backyard, and I couldn't find my headphones. The usual race day morning I guess.
Realizing that I certainly wasn't going to be early my Macy's Day Parade stroll quickened a bit and I arrived a solid 8 minutes before the start. My foot was feeling pretty good and it could not have been a more perfect morning for running. Like practically every other downtown Hickory course this one has a lot of ups and downs with seemingly more ups than downs so it's not easy by any means. The race starts with a 1/4 mile flat then a steep 1/4 mile up followed by a fairly smooth stretch to the halfway point. At this point I was running second to a 14 year old by 10 yards or so with a friend (John Johnson) close behind in third. I'm used to running behind kids half my age so I just try to keep them in sight and if I'm lucky enough to catch them, create enough separation so they don't out kick me. One thing I've learned in the past 15 years is that no matter how fatigued a teenager is, he (or she) can run an all-out sprint in the final 100 meters. Especially if there is an audience so I generally try to avoid that scenario if possible.
Coming up the second hill I was able to make up the 10 yards fairly quickly and we ran evenly through the second mile. The third hill starts just past mile 2 and it's a solid 1/2 mile climb. Not as steep as the first but it's a grind. Closing in on mile 3 I really wanted off the roller coaster. I was sick of running uphill and downhill for that matter but at this point I felt good about having a top 3 overall finish locked in. Overall finishes are rare for me so I told myself that no matter how this final 1/2 mile played out I wasn't beating myself up over time or pace. Plus I still had to run home - that was my fallback in case I had to internalize a complete shut down. I had a fairly comfortable lead at this point but if the kid would have hawked me down I wasn't chasing him. I mean I probably would have but I sure didn't want to! Finally I crested the long hill which is followed by a short downhill, another short climb, and then followed by the downhill finish. I was able to hang on for the win followed by the 14 year old with John closing the gap on him to finish just 6 seconds behind.
One of the great things about this race is that the 'anything is possible' mantra brings out a number of runners both young and old that are competing for the first time. As competitive runners with a clock obsession we often take finishing for granted, as well as recovering and simply going about the remainder of our day in good health. I started out this week not sure if I wanted to race this morning. I haven't been able to train like I've wanted to the past few weeks...my foot probably needs the rest...blah, blah, blah. I mean how many runners are 100% healthy anyway? Not many. So that's my way of telling me to shut up. At the end of the day I've only regretted the races I didn't run and today would have been no different.
Run on!
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